Climate Change News
Below are news items on climate change – many with relevance to aviation
COP21: 200 bikes and 5 tractors from Notre-Dame-des-Landes (planned airport site) set off for the Paris climate talks
A convoy of 200 bicycles and five tractors has left Notre-Dame-des-Landes (Loire-Atlantique) going to Paris for the COP21 talks, to demand the abandonment of the proposed new Nantes airport. The protesters, most wearing yellow vests proclaiming "No Airport" straddled their bikes in mid morning for a "tracto-vélo" that should arrive in Paris on November 28, two days before the opening of the international climate conference. They will "denounce the blatant hypocrisy between the will of the government to fight against global warming and the destruction of more than 1,600 hectares of farmland and wetlands in order to build a new airport." During the week the convoy entitled "Cap sur la COP" will make the trip in stages of 40-70 km, and its stop in various towns and cities, to stay with local supporters and hold meetings and discussions with their many local support committees, that oppose the planned new airport. After the terrorist attacks in Paris, the organisers had been unsure about proceeding, but say they will not confront the police in any way, and are just attending in order to put across their message. The convoy plans to meet up with other convoys outside Paris before the COP. Though the convoy is mainly cyclists, there will be some vehicles to transport people who can not make a long journey by bike, and for logistics.
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Large variation found in airlines’ CO2 emissions due to engine efficiency and proportion of premium passengers
A study by the ICCT (the International Council on Clean Transportation) in the USA has done a survey on the emissions per passenger of various airlines. The numbers depend not only on the fuel efficiency of the plane and its engines, or how high the load factor, but the proportion of first class and premium class passengers. Airlines with all economy class have higher fuel efficiency than those will premium passengers. The ICCT said that overall airlines like British Airways, Lutfhansa, United Airlines, Virgin Atlantic and American Airlines, had higher emissions per passenger kilometre than Norwegian. ICCT said atypical passenger on Norwegian Air Shuttle travelled 40km per litre of fuel (113 mpg), but about 27km (76 mpg) on BA and Lufthansa, with older planes like Boeing 747s. First-class and business passengers accounted for a disproportionate amount of the pollution, being responsible for 14% of available seat kilometres flown on transatlantic routes, but they accounted for around 33% of total CO2 emissions. Air Berlin, KLM and Aer Lingus averaged 36km per litre of fuel, somewhere in the middle of the range. There is a 25% difference between the best and the worst airlines for fuel consumption per passenger kilometre.
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Energy Secretary Amber Rudd admits misleading Parliament about missing 25% green energy undershoot
A letter from Energy Secretary Amber Rudd leaked to The Ecologist shows that she misled Parliament by promising the UK was 'on course' to deliver on its renewable energy targets (15% of final energy consumption from renewables by 2020) - when in fact there is a delivery shortfall in 2020 of almost 25%. Her plan to fill the gap relies on more biofuels, buying in green power and 'credits' from abroad - everything but wind and solar. She says: "The trajectory currently leads to a shortfall against the target in 2020 of around 50 TWh or 3.5% points in our internal central forecasts (which are not public). Publicly we are clear that the UK continues to make progress to meet the target." However, she has told the House of Commons that the UK is still meeting renewables targets. This puts the UK at risk of legal action taken in the UK, and fines imposed by the European Court of Justice. There could be a full Parliamentary investigation. She also has a problem with hoping that by 2020 biofuels will make up 10% of transport fuels, due to conflicts of deforestation and conflict with land for agriculture. [If the UK is not able to meet its carbon targets, in its carbon budgets, it is not possible for aviation to increase its annual CO2 emissions above 37.5MtCO2. Failure of other sectors to make cuts put the weak aviation target in question.]
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17 NGOs write to European Commission to get them to push for inclusion of aviation and shipping in Paris agreement
In response to the announcement that the carbon emissions international aviation and shipping are to be left off the draft Paris agreement, 17 European NGOs and environmental networks have written to the Arias Cañete (Commissioner for Climate Action and Energy in the European Commission) and EU-28 Climate Ministers. They say the omission of these two large sectors, with their combined huge carbon emissions, would - if sustained - greatly undermine efforts to limit a global temperature increase to 1.5/2 degrees. Aviation is responsible for 5% of global warming with shipping emitting 3% of global CO2, and their carbon emissions are set to grow by up to 250% by 2050. The group of 17 say they represent millions of concerned European citizens. They ask that the Commission ensures these two sectors are covered by the Paris Agreement, so that they make a fair contribution to the world's shared objective of a sustainable, low-carbon future. The letter states: "What the world needs from Paris is an agreement which charts our path to a low-carbon future. What we must not get is an agreement which says ambition for some, exemptions for others. Paris cannot mean these sectors are fuel-tax and now emissions-target free."
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New report by the Green Party shows UK will not meet climate change targets with new runways
The Green Party has published a new report entitled: "Airport Expansion Doesn’t Make Climate Sense." The report reveals that the UK will not meet its climate change targets if David Cameron goes ahead with a new runway at Heathrow, Gatwick or anywhere in the South-East of England. It offers a fresh perspective on the airport expansion debate by offering alternatives to new runways that a climate-sensitive government would pursue; including moving many short-haul flight passengers onto existing rail services and taxing very frequent flyers. The report’s key messages are that adding a SE runway does not fit into UK carbon targets. The current expansion debate offers a false choice, of merely whether a runway should be put at Heathrow or at Gatwick. This masks the reality that the UK has to reduce air passenger numbers, not increase them, to keep within the carbon limits in the Climate Change Act. The Government and the London Mayoral candidates must explain how it’s possible to build any new UK runway while meeting the UK’s targets for cutting emissions. The new report shows it just isn’t.
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Paris could leave aviation and shipping fuel tax-free and climate target-free
The international aviation and shipping sectors are set to be exempt from targeted CO2 emissions cuts in the December Paris climate agreement, according to the latest draft deal. The final deal needs to be agreed in the coming weeks. The draft deal removes previous calls for aviation and shipping CO2 reduction targets, with neither sector covered by national targets. Environmental NGOs say this is an irresponsible U-turn. Aviation is responsible for 5% of global warming with shipping emitting 3% of global CO2, and their carbon emissions are set to grow by up to 250% by 2050, making attempts to limit global warming to 2°C all but impossible. The IMO has said an overall cap on shipping emissions "would inhibit world trade." Proposals from the least developed countries, that shipping and aviation should contribute to climate finance were also dropped in the draft, despite strong calls for them from the IMF and World Bank.Though the climate impact of global aviation is about the same as that of Germany, the sector has tax-free fuel and it is now to have target-free emissions. Bill Hemmings, of T&E said: "It’s a betrayal of future generations and a sad reflection on the way the UN has become beholden to special interests. Paris needs to think again and quickly.”
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Airlines write to UN Secretary General to say they want governments to set up offsetting for their carbon growth
Airbus, Boeing and Rolls-Royce are among 28 signatories to open letter to the Secretary General of the UN, stressing the need for a carbon market to curb aviation CO2. They say they are committed to curbing the aviation sector’s greenhouse gas emissions, ahead of a Paris climate deal this December. Their letter says they will not increase net (Note: net not gross) CO2 emissions from aviation after 2020 and halve them compared to 2005 by 2050. These cuts would in practice not be made by actually reducing the amount of CO2 aviation emits, but by buying credits from other sectors that actually reduce their carbon. To do this, they need to agree a carbon market at the 2016 summit of UN aviation authority, ICAO. The design of a "market mechanism" (system of trading carbon) to offset emissions by investing in low carbon development projects is behind schedule. The aviation industry is keen to be seen to be doing something, though internal divisions within ICAO mean agreeing anything that would actually be effective in limiting the sector's carbon emissions. They still hope to be able to cut emissions by a few % by use of biofuels, though this is not looking promising. Though the letter is a start, global aviation needs much more ambition, and it cannot rely on offsets indefinitely. See critique of offsetting for carbon cuts.
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European Parliament urges EU governments to include aviation and shipping in a strong Paris climate deal
The Environment Ministers of the 28 European member states will be meeting on 18 September to finalise the EU position for COP21, to be held in Paris at the end of November. The heads of 7 of the 8 political groups of the European Parliament's environment committee have written to the EU Environment Ministers urging them to include international shipping and aviation in a global climate deal at Paris. They said: "To promote increased climate ambition from ICAO and IMO, like all the other sectors of the global economy, aviation and international shipping require an emissions reduction target. There is no reasonable excuse to continue exempting these two economy sectors from the global policy framework. Aviation and shipping need to contribute in the same way that is required of all UNFCCC Parties, large and small." The group, T&E commented that: "It's simply fair to demand from two economic sectors with emissions the size of Germany and South Korea - about 8% of world CO2 - to reduce their emissions in line with keeping the global temperature increase below 2 degrees C. The IMO and ICAO have been procrastinating so far. The time for action has come.". The CO2 emissions from global aviation are expected to grow by 200 - 300% by 2050.
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Meeting on aviation expansion and climate confirms “No new runways” is the only effective policy
Representatives from London's anti-airport expansion campaigns shared the stage with Green activists, with a unified message: No new runways for the south east's airports. The meeting was chaired by Sian Berry, the Green Party's candidate for the London mayoral election. A range of prominent environmental activists spoke about why the case for no new runways at London's airports is the most attractive option. Sian said nobody would believe David Cameron's climate change credentials if he heads to the UN Climate Change conference in Paris in November, intending to get a new runway at a London airport. We need to "convince the government to end this false choice debate, trying to pit [Heathrow and Gatwick] communities against each other over which airport to expand and who should suffer the increased pollution and noise that would result." Professor Alice Bows-Larkin, a climate expert, said in the conflict between aviation and climate policy in the UK said providing more airport capacity is at odds with managing demand for air travel, which is the only effective way to limit the rise in aviation CO2 emissions. The efficiency improvements the industry can make are far smaller than the expected growth of the industry. Not building another runway is the simplest, cheapest and most effective way to solve the aviation carbon problem.
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New study by ICCT show new plane fuel efficiency gains are more than a decade late for UN ICAO goal
The European group, T&E, say that since 2010, the average fuel burn of new aircraft has improved by 1.1% per year, which suggests that aircraft manufacturers may miss UN aviation body ICAO’s 2020 fuel efficiency goals by 12 years. This has been show by a new study by the ICCT. IATA forecasts 4.1% annual growth of global aviation for the next 20 years. By contrast, the 1.1% progress in fuel efficiency of new commercial jets falls way behind the progress needed to meet ICAO’s targets. The gap between 4.1% growth and 1.1% improvement is massive. Since 2009 ICAO has been working on a CO2 standard for new aircraft to boost fuel efficiency technology in the fleet. Work should be completed in 2016, with the standard for new commercial jets taking effect in 2020. Decisions on the actual stringency of the standard are due over the next months. T&E said: "ICAO must help airlines meet their own climate goals and agree a CO2 standard that actually forces new technology in the fleet, rather than doing business as usual..... It’s a no brainer for ICAO to agree a global market-based measure that drives fuel prices up steadily over time.” More progress in fuel efficiency strongly correlates with higher fuel prices. Aviation's massive CO2 emissions are projected to triple by 2050.